Target finalizes location of Canada HQ

By Alaric DeArment

NEW YORK — Target’s board has finalized the decision to locate the company’s Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, said president, chairman and CEO Gregg Steinhafel at a shareholders meeting in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Target announced in late May the selection of the first 105 of up to 220 Zellers stores in Canada, which plans to convert the majority of the initial stores to Target stores and reopen them in 2013. The company said at the time that it would set up the headquarters in a 180,000-sq.-ft. space in Mississauga pending approval by the company’s board.

Other plans include the opening of small-format City Target stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco in 2012 and a revamping of the company’s website this fall, Steinhafel said.

During a question-and-answer period, the company came under intense criticism surrounding the $150,000 it donated last year to MN Forward, a conservative group that backed the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Tom Emmer, a gay-rights opponent whose views on immigration also attracted anger from the Latino community. In the wake of the controversy, which prompted pop singer Lady Gaga to cancel a deal with the retailer to promote her album “Born This Way,” Target revised its policy on political donations and created an executive committee to manage them. The company has long supported gay and lesbian organizations, and Steinhafel responded to criticism by saying the decision to donate to MN Forward was based on economic rather than social issues.